The Carnival
by halffictionalprincess
Summary: Harry takes Hermione to a carnival, and somehow in between ferris-wheel rides and blue unicorn stuffed toys, they began falling for each other.


_**A/n- I wrote this for **__**Return of the Daily Weird Prompt Thing [Speed-writing Competition]**__**. My prompt was a stuffed toy unicorn, and I hope you guys have as much fun reading it, as I had writing.**_

_**Disclaimer- I don't own HP or carnivals.**_

_**The Carnival.**_

She gripped her wand and slowly walked towards the kitchen, a list of hexes running through her mind, she turned the corner and entered, her wand raised, and was surprised to see a figure yell and crouch down on the floor.

It took her a moment to realize who it was, and when she figured it out, she started laughing.

Harry Potter- the boy who lived-the chosen one- the boy who defeated Voldemort- was sitting on her kitchen floor, yelling like Ron Weasley confronted with a spider.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, standing up after she'd put her wand away.

"Me? What's wrong with you?" she replied.

"Well, anyone would be screaming if you-Hermione Granger- the brightest witch of her age- pointed her wand at them, you're a scary woman," He said, dusting his jeans.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said, and he rolled his eyes," But what I meant was what are you doing in my kitchen at," she checked her watch, "7:34 pm on a Friday? Oh, and how did you get in, my locks are magic safe."

"Oh I entered your house with the help of a really powerful and magical object," he said, with a mock flare of mystery, but Hermione couldn't help but be curious. He laughed when he saw the expression on her face, and said "I have a key, Hermione, remember? You gave it to me?"

"Right," she said, as she grimaced at her own forgetfulness, "Harry it's been a really long day, and I was sleeping when you decided to wake me up by sneaking into my apartment, so please just tell me what's going on?"

"I came here to steal something," he said.

"Steal what?" she asked, confused.

"You," he replied, "There's a carnival going on, a few miles from here, and we are going there tonight."

"A carnival, are you serious, Harry?" she asked, but she really didn't need to considering that he was literally skipping at the idea of going.

"Yes, Hermione, I am serious, now would you please, please go with me?" He said, pulling the puppy eyes he knew she couldn't say no to.

"Alright, fine," she said, resigned to her fate of having to attend a carnival tonight with an overly excited Harry Potter.

"Umm... You might want to get dressed first," he said, now looking everywhere but at her.

Heat rose up her spine as she realised that during all the excitement she'd forgotten that she was just wearing a t-shirt, and more embarrassingly, it was his t-shirt. She didn't know how exactly it had ended up in her closet, but it was soft and comfortable and she slept in it.

But Harry didn't need to know that.

"Umm.. yeah... I'll just...yeah," she muttered and almost ran back to her bedroom. She quickly washed her face and changed clothes.

She found a red sundress she really liked and some white flats, she tried not to spend a lot of time fussing over her appearance, considering it was Harry, but she ended up taking ten minutes to take care of her hair and another fifteen doing some light make up.

She walked back into the living room to find Harry pacing back and forth. His back was towards her when she came in and he must've heard her come in because he started "What took you so-,"  
But he cut off when he saw her, and his eyes widened. Though Hermione would never admit it, it felt kind of nice that Harry liked the way she looked.

"Let's go," She said, picking up coat and placing her wand in the hidden pocket.

"Yeah...let's," he said, and his Adam's apple bobbed when he swallowed.

He took her hand and they apparated to a secluded spot near the entrance of the Carnival, and the sight of multi-coloured lights and the sound of continuous chatter made her smile.

Harry didn't let go of her hand and, for some absurd reason, she didn't let go of his either. He had a smile on his face that almost broke his face in half and he was as excited as a five year old who'd never visited a Carnival before.

And that was when she realised that he was that kid.

The fact that this was the first time Harry was going to a Carnival shouldn't have surprised her, considering how the Dursley's treated him, but it did. Her heart ached for the little boy that Harry used to be who had wanted to go to a Carnival but had never been taken.

She decided right then, that no matter how tired she was, she was going to make sure that Harry has the best time tonight.

They walked inside and she let the sound of laughter from people of all ages lift her spirits.

Hermione couldn't see anything through the crowd and let harry lead her through to where he wanted to go.

He wanted to go to the Ferris wheel.

"No, no, no, no way," she said, when they reached near the huge wheel, "I'm not going on that thing,"

"Oh come on, Hermione," he said, pulling his puppy eyes again, "Don't be like that, it's perfectly safe,"

Hermione looked at him and remembered the promise she'd made to herself just a few moments ago. She sighed, and nodded, and smiled when he grinned.

They bought a couple of tickets and sat in their seats when they came down. Fear rose up her spine as they started their ascend, and she tried to calm herself down. It's just a swing, she reaffirmed herself, there is no need to freak out.

And there wasn't, not until they reached the top and they started to fall.

She might've screamed but she couldn't be sure. She could no longer watch as they plummeted to their deaths, so wrapped her hands around Harry's arm and burrowed her head in his biceps.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, but she didn't say anything, "Look, we can ask them to stop, let's get off this thing," he said and moved forward as they reached down to the starting point again.

And as much as she wanted to get off this wheel of death, she couldn't stop Harry from enjoying it.

"No," she said, muttering into his shoulder, "I'm alright; just let me stay like this,"

"You sure?" he asked, and Hermione could hear the concern in his voice. She nodded her head as they reached the top again.

The wheel took another four spins before they could get off, and Hermione wasn't sure that she could've done this without Harry.

They got off their seats and Harry said, "I'm sorry for making you do that, I forgot how much you hated heights,"

Hermione smiled at the obvious guilt on his face and said, "Nah, I'm glad you did, my family has been hounding me to try that since I was five, but I'm glad I did with you."

He took her hand again and they were walking idly when she saw something she'd wanted since she was five years old. She stopped walking and he frowned as he found her staring at the hoops game.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked, but she didn't say anything and just led them to the booth.

"You see that blue stuffed unicorn?" she asked him, pointing to the toy hanging on the prizes wall, and he nodded, "I went to a carnival when I was five, and I saw a unicorn just like that and I'd wanted it, but my dad couldn't win. I was heart-broken. I never saw a unicorn like that again."

He was looking at her with an expression she couldn't identify, and then he said, "How about I win it for you?"

Hermione smiled, and he asked the shopkeeper how much for the hoops. It took him thirty pounds, eighteen hoops and twenty minutes before he landed two hoops on the blue unicorn and won it for Hermione. She hugged the unicorn tight, and then she hugged him for this doing for her.

It was then that they noticed a little girl staring at the unicorn in Hermione's arm and a man who was definitely her dad, asking the booth keeper if they had another unicorn like that one.

Hermione swore she heard the sound of the little girl's heart breaking when the shopkeeper said no. She looked at the unicorn and then at Harry who, smiled and nodded because he knew her as much as she knew herself, and knew what she was thinking.

Hermione walked over to the little girl and bent down to be at her eye level, and gave her the unicorn.

"Here, you take it," Hermione said, and the little girl's face lit up with a smile, but it dropped as she looked at her dad who shook his head.

"It's yours, I can't take it," the little girl replied, giving back the toy to Hermione, and Hermione's heart almost broke as the girl put on a brave smile for her sake.

She felt someone bent down beside her and found Harry smiling softly at the little girl, "Come on, sweetheart, take it, you don't want to make the unicorn sad, do you? Because he would be very sad if you said no."

The little girl bit her lip and looked up at her dad again; Hermione looked at the man too, begging him with his eyes to allow his daughter to take it. All of them smiled when he nodded.

The little girl squealed and took the unicorn and before she knew it, Hermione had little arms around her, and then just as fast as they'd appeared, the little hands went away, now wrapped around Harry's neck.

Hermione smiled as Harry hugged the little girl back. An image of him with his own daughter hit her, but what was more surprising was that the little girl had her eyes. She stood shell shocked at the thought and tried to shake it off.

The man thanked them and they smiled at him and his daughter.

"You're amazing, you know," He said as they walked away from the hoops booth, and she just smiled at him.

For the next few hours, Hermione let herself go, she laughed with Harry, ate burgers for dinner and cotton candy for desert. Hermione bought Harry a fake grey beard and he wore it and pretended to be Dumbledore. Harry bought Hermione a really old fashioned red hat, and a bag to go along with it. It made her look like the queen. They even went to a photo booth, and made faces for the camera.

They walked around the grounds and it was almost midnight when the crowd began thinning, and they decided to head home too. He took her hand and apparated them near her building. As they walked up the stairs to her apartment, Hermione realised that even though they'd spent the last five hours together, she didn't want tonight to end.

Moreover, tonight hadn't felt normal to her, tonight Harry hadn't been the boy she thought of as her brother, he had been the most amazing, hilarious man she'd ever met.

And she was losing her heart to him.

The fact didn't shock her, like it should've, or scared her, like it should've, it made her happy.

"Hermione," he said, and she realised that they'd reached her apartment.

"I just... just wanted to say that I had the most amazing time tonight, and Thank you, for making me do this, I'm-," Hermione forgot what she wanted to say, as Harry moved a little closer and they were now standing close enough that their noses touched.

"Thank you for doing this with me, Hermione." He whispered and then to her surprise and amazement, he leaned down to kiss her.

His kiss was everything a first kiss should be, tender and gentle and sweet and just... amazing. Hermione lost thread of all thoughts and just let herself be kissed. She linked her hands around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist. They broke apart after a few heartbeats, both of them out of breath, she smiled against his lips and he smile against hers.

"Going to the carnival was the best idea I've ever had," he said, and she laughed, pulling him in for another kiss.

She whole-heartedly agreed.

_**A/n- Please review!**_


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